Private sales losing their appeal

Private selling may well be losing some of its lustre, as increasing numbers of people say they would turn to an agent to drive a sale in the current market.

The results feature in the latest Nielsen Real Estate Market Report for realestate.co.nz, which show just 11 per cent of people said they would definitely list their property privately, down from 17 per cent at the height of the market three years ago.

At the same time just under half (47 per cent) of those surveyed said they would definitely use a real estate agent to sell their home, up from 35 per cent three years ago.

Realestate.co.nz's Alistair Helm said the "euphoria" associated with listing a property on Trade Me and selling it the next day had gone.

"Today, three years later nearly half of the respondents are recognising that agents can be trusted in such uncertain times, with another third still unsure, but probably going to rely on an agent," Helm said.

The pendulum was continuing to swing back towards using agents as the complexity, litigation and current market, left people wondering why they would want to take on the role of "self employed agent" next to their day job, he said.

Property investment also took a big hit in the survey, with just one in seven people saying they intended buying residential property as a future investment.

This is down from one in four when the survey was conducted last year.

The survey also showed a 42 per cent fall in the intention of landlords to sell.

Posted: 20 Aug 2010

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